Spherical incline braiding apparatus



Nov. 18, 1969 s. E. JURTA 3,478,642

SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAI DING APPARATUS Filed April 22, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 18, 1969 G. E. JURTA SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAIDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1968 Nov. 18, 1969 G. E. JURTA SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAIDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet (5 Filed April 22, 1968 JWVE/VY'OR GEORGE liz/U/FTA Nov. 18, 1969 G. E. JURTA SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAIDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheefi 4 Filed April 22, 1968 I/VVENZ'OR GEORGE E. dl/ETA Nov. 18, 1969 G. E. JURTA SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAIDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 22, 1968 Tic 1E1.

11V VENIOR 650/965 5. (/(MTA United States Patent 3,478,642 SPHERICAL INCLINE BRAIDING APPARATUS George E. Jurta, Tilton, N.H. (111 .1). 1, Box 39, Franklin, NH. 03235 Filed Apr. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 722,834 Int. Cl. D04c 3/02 US. Cl. 87-50 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a braiding machine for weaving a braid having seamless strands. The braiding-tips traverse a figure-of-eight path or track along a spherical sector thereby providing a three dimensional movement of the braiding-tips in the weaving operation. This apparatus also provides structural features of a novel character for controlling braid density.

This invention relates to a braiding machine and more particularly relates to a machine for making a woven braid of the type used in crafting a braided rug.

A braid for such a rug is generally made of three or more strips of folded cloth intertwined one with the other, and this braid is then sewn or laced together at adjacent edge portions into an oval, round, or rectangular form. In producing such a rug considerable difiiculty is generally encountered in making a good braid. A properly formed braid has each of its strands folded lengthwise with its longitudinal edges turned inwardly in a rolled fashion.

Such braid forming is in many instances done by hand and considerable skill and dexterity is necessary to produce a braid of generally uniform cross section with a consistent degree of looseness or tightness as may be desired, with the fold crease not showing in the woven braid.

Prior art attempts have been made to develop machinery which could produce braid at a rate much faster than by hand. However, these attempts have not been entirely satisfactory. Machine-made braid often lacks uniformity of cross section and integrity, and further has disadvantages of high production cost.

The present invention overcomes many of the prior art shortcomings in producing machine-made braid by providing mechanical weaving means traveling in an orbicular path and which thereby weaves three or more strips of cloth under a uniform tension while at the same time closely regulating the inward turning and rolling of the edge portions of each strip in such a manner that when this braid is connected to itself along adjacent edges, the resultant rug is virtually seamless in appearance and may accordingly be used with either side face up.

In accordance with this invention, strands of cloth strip fed from three or more reels are each pulled through a corresponding forming tip. Each of these tips is moved relative to one another in an intertwining motion thereby weaving the formed strands into a seamless braid. It is an essential feature of this invention that the tip portions from which each strand is withdrawn are maintained in a substantially equi-distant relation from one another during the braiding motion in order to produce the resultant braid characteristics of integrity, form, and degree of tightness. This equi-distant relation is maintained by 3,478,642 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 "ice providing an orbicular figure-of-eight guide path or track on a spherically-surfaced housing portion which carries the traveling braiding tips.

It is accordingly among the various objects of this invention to provide a machine which will automatically weave strips of material into a seamless braid.

Another object of this invention is to provide a braiding machine which can be operated with a minimum of mechanical skill and operator attention.

A further object of this invention is to provide a braiding machine which will automatically produce braid at a rapid rate at an economical cost.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a front elevation view of my braiding apparatus utilizing the concept of spherical incline braiding action;

FIGURE 2 shows a top plan view of the machine shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 illustrates an enlarged side elevation view of a typical follower assembly supported from the spherical housing of the device;

FIGURE 5 illustrates an elevation view of the follower assembly shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 shows an enlarged exploded view of a typical braid-forming assembly carried by the lower portion of each follower;

FIGURE 7 illustrates an alternate form of construction which a jack member may take, having a means for producing a variable tension on cloth strands;

FIGURE 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a braidforming assembly taken on line 8-8 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 9 is a view of the device of FIGURE 8 with the jack component removed thereby more clearly depicting the convoluted form of folding which the cloth strand takes;

FIGURE 10 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the forming assembly taken on line 10-10 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged left-hand side elevation view of the pull-roll assembly depicted in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 12 is an enlarged opposite side elevation view of the pull-roll assembly shown in FIGURE 11;

FIGURE 13 schematically illustrates the tracking paths which the follower assemblies and braiding-tip assemblies traverse;

FIGURE 14 shows a top plan view of an alternate construction of the ring segment forming a part of the traveler assembly carried by the track in the housing;

FIGURE 15 shows a cross-sectional view of the ring segment taken on line 15-15 of FIGURE 14;

FIGURE 16 illustrates a braid woven by the apparatus of this disclosure;

FIGURE 17 shows the form which a typical cloth strip assumes as it passes through the braiding tip;

FIGURE 18 is a cross-section view taken on line 18'18 of FIGURE 17 showing the roll formation at that section; and

FIGURE 19 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a typical strand in the finished braid.

Referring now with greater particularity to the drawings, there is shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, a front elevation and plan view, respectively, of my braiding apparatus comprised of a shell-like spherical-housing 11 with an elongated, cut through continuous figure-of-eight guide or track 12. Carried in spaced relation from one another in this track 12 are a plurality of traveler members, illustrated in FIGURE 3, generally designated as 13, 14, and 15 which travel in circuitous figure-of-eight timed relation around track 12. Each of the traveler members 13, 14, and 15 carries a reel of braiding material or strip 16, 17, and 18 each of which is threaded over its respective roller 19, 20, and 21 and led into a convoluted braiding assembly 23, 24, and 25 respectively. As each convoluted strand emerges from its respective braiding tip assembly in longitudinal roll-form, shown in FIGURE 5, the traveler members carry each braiding tip in a motion relative to one another whereby to intertwine each respective strand of material into a cord or braid 22 by repeatedly crossing a left then a right strand over a central strand and under an opposite strand. As shown in FIGURE 3, the strand material is withdrawn from each braiding assembly by having the woven braid 22 pulled through a pair of driven friction wheels 26 and 27. The braiding motion is schematically illustrated in FIGURE 13 and corresponds to the top plan view of my apparatus shown in FIGURE 2. Traveler members 42 travel in track 12; the braiding tips follow a similar figure-of-eight path depicted by 12a. The circular dotted lines of FIGURE 13 represent the driven gear member 28, and 29 in FIGURE 2, each of which respectively carries rigidly attached thereto three (3) fork members 30, 31, 32, and 33, 34, 35, in spaced relation. These fork members are adapted to intermittently engage with and drive traveler members 13, 14, and 15 in timed relation and carry them in the prescribed figure-of-eight path. As illustrated in FIGURE 2 each gear 28, and 29 is driven in a one-to-one ratio in contrarotating directions as indicated by the arrows A, A. In FIGURE 2, traveler member 13 is shown as moving in a tangential path from fork 32 to fork 35. These forks travel in timed relation so that a pair of them for example 32 and 35, will be opposite one another at their point of common tangency in their travel. Accordingly, the motion of traveler member 14 will be from fork member 32 to fork member 35 which will carry this traveler in a counterclockwise direction back to the common point of tangency where fork member 32 will then receive traveler member 14 and carry it in clockwise direction in track 12. Traveler members 14 and 15 each follow a similar motion in proper sequence.

Referring further to FIGURES 1, 2, and 3 wherein is illustrated the details of construction of the sphericalhousing 11 and the driving mechanism which moves traveler members 13, 14, and 15 in track 12, there is shown a pair of ring-gear members 28 and 29 rotatably carried by support plates 28a, and 29a. These support plates generally comprise those portions of housing 11 which remain interiorly of track 12 and are held in spaced relation to spherical shell 11, this spatial relation, accordingly, forming the figure-of-eight track 12. Support plates 28a and 29a are held in this fixed position by a plurality of rigid connector arms 36, each having one end connected to the shell 11, and the other end connected to its respective support plate.

Mounted on a common shaft 37 above housing 11 are gears 28b and 29b in coacting relation with their respective ring-gear members. Though shaft 37' may be driven from any conventional power source, I have illustrated it in FIGURE 2 as being powered by a belt 38 and pulley 39 arrangement driven by an electric motor 40.

Referring now to FIGURES 4, 5, and 6, there are illustrated the structural details of a typical traveler member 13 carried in track 12. Each traveler is generally comprised of a plurality of stud mounted slide-members 41 which are adapted to ride in track 12. Traveler plate 42 carries two upstanding stud members 43 to which slidemembers 41 are fastened. Each slidemember 41 i5 comprised of an upper disc shoe 41a and a lower disc shoe 41b conjoined by a wall section or slide-member 41 which rides in track 12. Shoes 41a and 4112 are in sliding bearing relation with the upper and lower surfaces respectively of housing 11. Crossbar 44 is connected between shafts 43 and carries upstanding stud member 45 adapted for engagement by a typical fork member 30. Thus, as fork member 30 travels its circular route in its track segment, its engagement against stud member 45 propels the traveler assembly along the track.

Referring further to FIGURES 4 and 5, depending from each traveler plate 42 are a pair of vertical side arms 46 carrying, for example, a reel of braid material 16. Pinshaft 47, which supports the reel of braid material in position, is fabricated of spring steel in a general U-shape and is squeezed with finger pressure at ends 48 to disengage it preparatory to withdrawing whenever it is desired to change this reel. In its normal position, the inherent resilient characteristics of such spring material force the ends 48 apart as to permit shoulders 48a and 48b on this pin-shaft to abut against corresponding surfaces in a conventional manner.

Fitted to the lower end of side members 46 is a typical fold-forming or braid assembly 23 shown in exploded view in FIGURE 6 and comprised of a first deflector-roll 19, a forward deflector member 52, a cone 53 and a detachable jack-unit 54. This jack unit consists of a jack deflector-plate 55, and a center separating blade 57. As seen in FIGURES 6 and 8, resilient spring member 58 acts as a tension-finger or brush maintaining a constant tension against the fabric web moving through the cone. Though the described embodiment shows member 58 to be a resilient spring member, FIGURE 7 illustrates an alternate embodiment wherein a screw member 59 may be rotatably advanced against tension member 58 to thereby provide a variable degree of tension against a cloth web passing through a cone member. Referring to FIGURES 8, 9, and 10, a fold-forming assembly is shown, with a web of material 16a being advanced over the forward deflector member 52 with the edges of the material being carried between the cone 53 and jack unit 54. Note from FIGURE 5 that jack deflector plate 55 acts so as to keep the web of material 16a spread apart as it enters the area between the cone and jack unit. Separating blade 57 assures that the edges of the material will roll into the desired convoluted form. In order that the reel of braid material 16 will not be free-wheeling, a retarding means or brake 60 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 61 and resiliently biased against the reel of material by a spring member 62 in a conventional manner. In order to provide for easy assembly and disassembly of any braiding tip, e.g. 23, note that in FIGURES 4 and 6 that support plate 50 has its upper and lower end portions, i.e., 50a, 5%, rolled in a conventional manner to provide a degree of resiliency whereby to snap over member 51 for firm posi tioning.

Up to this point, I have disclosed the details of the braiding motion itself. There is additionally provided in my invention a powered variable-speed pull-roll unit shown in FIGURES l1 and 12 for pulling the web material or strips from their respective reels, through the fold-forming or braiding tip assembly in its finished braided form. Referring first to FIGURE 2, there are shown two variable speed pulleys and 71 suitably mounted for rotation and connected by belt 69. Pulley 70 is attached to shaft 37; and pulley 71 is mounted on a shaft 72 carried by bearing block 73. A flexible shaft 68 drivingly connects the end of shaft 72 in FIGURE 2, to worm gear 74 seen in FIGURE 12. This worm gear 74 is used to power my pull-roll unit generally designated by the numeral 75.

The pull-roll unit is comprised generally of a pair of friction wheels 26 and 27 which are driven through conventional gearing from pinion 78. As can be seen from the details of FIGURES 11 and 12, pinion 78 is carried by shaft 79 which also carries at its other end gear member 80. Gear 80 is suitably meshed with gear 81 mounted on shaft 82. Mounted on shafts 79 and 82 are another pair of gears shown in dotted lines which are connected to gears 83 and 84 through chain drives 85 and 86. In operation, woven braid 22 would generally pass through friction Wheels 26 and 27 and feed out through chute 87.

In order to facilitate the threading of braid 22 between wheels 26 and 27 when the braiding operation starts, I provide means for pivoting wheels 26 and 27 and their corresponding shaft members 26a and 27a away from each other upon actuating lever member 91.

Lever 91 is fixedly mounted to rotatable shaft 92 which carries aflixed thereto a ring member 93, shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 11. Angle-bars 94 and 95 are eccentrically connected at their lower end portions with ring member 93 by means of connecting rods 96 and 97. It can thus be seen that by depressing lever 91, ring member 93 will rotate in a clockwise direction thereby pivoting angle-bars 94 and 95 about shafts 79 and 82 respectively and accordingly moving friction wheels 26 and 27 apart. As shown in FIGURE 12 spring 98 biases both angle-bars together so that this spring force automatically tends to bring friction wheels 26 and 27 together when lever 91 is released.

To further facilitate this threading operation of the beginning-end of braid 22 through the friction wheels, it would be desirable to lower this pull-roll unit away from the forming tips since, as can be seen by referring to FIGURES 1 and 3, these components are relatively closely spaced. I accomplish this selective lowering, as shown in FIGURES 11 and 12, by providing a recess or aperture 101 underneath the pull-roll unit. An angle bar or other suitable support 102 has one end fixedly attached to the base 103 of the pull-roll unit. The other end of support 102 is apertured to slide over support rod 104. Spring member 105, or other suitable resilient means, pushes against the underside of angle-bar 102 thus supporting the full weight of the pull-roll unit. Iever 106 suitably mounted for rotation carries a projection tip 107 at one end thereof which is adapted for engagement with support 102. Thus, by suitable manipulation of level 106, the pull-roll unit can be lowered away from the forming tips and be automatically returned into position because of the resilient biasing of spring 105.

FIGURES l4 and show an alternate embodiment of construction for plate member 42a, corresponding to plate 42 of FIGURES 4 and 5. In the embodiment shown in FIGURES l4 and 15, plate 42a is comprised of a stationary annulus 42b and a rotatable base portion 420 coacting therewith by means of thumb-screws 42d and lock-levers 42e. Arm members 46 depend from base portion 420 hereinbefore described. The important feature of this embodiment is that it provides means for rotating the arms 46 and hence the braiding tip assemblies 23, 24, and 25 with respect to the remaining apparatus. This feature of adjustability compensates for diflerent weaving actions or overlays in the folded or woven braid due to rate of braid production and varying cloth characteristics such as texture, weight, etc.

Summarizing the foregoing details, the operation of this braiding machine will be as follows: An operator will mount a reel of cloth stripping 16, 17, and 18 within each of the assemblies 13, 14, and 15, respectively. The ends of each cloth strip will be manually threaded around roll 19, over forward deflector 52 and into cone '53. Insertion into cone 53 must in the first instance be done with jack 54 removed. The cloth ends should protrude from each forming tip or cone a distance sufliciently long enough to engage with the pull-roll mechanism. Jacks 54 are then firmly seated with their respective cone members. The apparatus is then actuated and the forming assemblies, suitably guided in their spherical track, begin their orbicular travel in a figure-of-eight path. Simultaneously, the friction wheels 26, 27 are driven in timed relation by means of flexible shaft 68, whose speed is set at the desired level by variable pulleys 70 and 71 and pull the woven braid from the forming assemblies.

It is to be noted that by varying the speed of wheels 26 and 27 while keeping the speed of traveler members 13, 14, and 15 constant, the coarseness or fineness of the braid can be controlled. Thus, if friction wheels 26 and 27 rotate rapidly thereby withdrawing braid rapidly from the braiding tips, the braid will be loosely woven; whereas, if pull-rolls 26 and 27 operate at a lower speed, the braid will be woven tighter, i.e., fine.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials, set-ups, and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a braiding apparatus, the combination of:

(a) a substantially spherical-sectored housing means including a generally shaped figure-of-eight track;

(b) a plurality of traveler members slidably carried in said track;

(0) means for driving said traveler members in said track in timed relation with one another;

(d) means carried by said traveler members for supplying braiding material and for folding said material; and

(e) means for pulling braiding material through said folding means at a selective rate.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said spherical sectored-housing means comprises (a) a shell member in the form of a spherical sector;

(b) a continuous track cut through said shell member in a general figure-of-eight configuration providing two plate sectors interiorly of said configuration;

(c) beans supporting said plate sectors in fixed spaced 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means for driving said traveler members in timed relation with one another comprises:

(a) a gear rotatably mounted on each of the two aforesaid plate sectors;

(b) a plurality of fork members fixed to the periphery of each said gear in equi-distant spaced relation; and

(0) powered means engaging and driving each gear in contra-rotating relation.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said traveler members each comprise:

(a) a support member carrying track engaging means;

(b?) arm members depending from each support mem- (c) support means for braid material carried by said arm members; and

(d) a fold-forming assembly carried by the lower portion of said arm members.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means carried by said traveler member for supplying braiding material and for folding said material comprises:

(a) a rotatably supported reel member;

(b) deflector means located in spaced relation beneath said reel member;

(0) a forming cone adjacent said deflector means; and

((1) means coacting with said forming cone to control tension an web-spread of the material entering said cone.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein shaid means for pulling braiding material through said folding means at a selective rate comprises:

(a) an independently driven pair of contra-rotating friction by the woven braid of material passing therebetween; and

(b) resilient biasing means suring said friction wheels References Cited toward each other. UN 7. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: ITED STATES PATENTS (a) a pivotable angle-bar on which each friction Wheel 580,944 4/ 1897 n s 8750 is rotatably mounted; 5 ,197,111 4/ 1940 Muller 87-50 (b) cam means coactin with each an le-bar for pivoting said angle bars apart; and D FOREIGN PATENTS (c) a base member mounting the aforesaid means for 9,358 1914 Great Britain.

pulling braiding material; (d) said base being resiliently supported for vertical H PETRAKES, Primary Examiner traversing. 

